Most students at Swarthmore have zero interest in honors, so your theory about unhealthy competition is- just a theory. The recent grads I know were busy living their best college lives which involved academics- yes- and lots of them- but also other things they cared about- music, running or folk dancing or riding horses, art, political engagement, volunteering in the community (lots and lots of volunteering), holding down a job. These things aren’t “ranked”. There is no competition for the person who helped the most homeless people in Philly or who tutored the most deficient third grader in Chester. They just “do” for the sake of doing.
Plebian and Princeton? Probably the first time I’ve heard that combination!
Blossom said it beautifully. I’m not sure what’s given you the impression that Swarthmore is some kind of cutthroat competitive place, but that’s simply not right. I urge you to talk to current students or recent grads. You will quickly learn that your original impression is incorrect.
As for honors, I don’t what else I can write to convince you that your second/third hand information about a single highest honors designee per department is incorrect. I would urge you not to spread incorrect information here (or information that you don’t know to be accurate). You have been contradicted by multiple folks. You can confirm your error with a quick email to the current head of honors at Swarthmore:
Grace Ledbetter
Director of the Honors Program
Professor of Classics and Philosophy
gledbet1@swarthmore.edu
It’s time to retract your statement and move on.
For anyone who is interested, here’s the info on Swarthmore honors:
I graduated from Swarthmore before the Honors system was revamped, but I’m sure much of what I have to say still holds true.
Students in the Honors program are not perceived as better or brighter than their peers that choose not to pursue the Honors program. Many top students find that the honors program course work is too limiting, as each Honors class is double credit, and thus you take fewer classes overall. When I was a student, we took 6 honors seminars (it’s now 4). If you study abroad even one semester of your junior year, it’s hard to do the honors program. I did and I only took 2 seminars each semester of my last 3 semesters on campus. You also don’t receive grades for your honors seminars. You are evaluated exclusively by written and oral examiners given by outside examiners you generally have never met. For students who are tracking GPAs for med school or whatever, this might be a concern. This may have changed? I’m not sure.
I was in the Honors program and loved it for the style of learning. We learned in small (8 or so students) seminars that met for 3 or 4 hours once a week, often at the faculty member’s house. We wrote 4-8 page papers every other week in our seminars and they were photocopied and distributed to the other seminar participants as the basis of the discussion. When I went on for a doctoral program in my field, I was not only well prepared, I found it easier by comparison.
In larger programs, as many as 3 might be awarded highest honors. I think it was something like 3% to 5% were awarded highest honors. One third was awarded high honors. The remaining honors students were awarded honors. An occasional student might not be awarded honors by the examiners, and then the teachers in their seminars could retroactively award a grade for their work and they would still graduate.
For students who choose not to pursue the honors program, they are still eligible for election to the honors societies and awards.
I retract the statement that only one student per discipline can receive highest honors. I accept that if you are among the 8-10 students in the graduating class in recent years who receive highest honors, that discipline is no barrier.
As for my impressions, starting from the tour at Swarthmore where the guide mentioned the deadline for taking a course pass/fail several times, to the discussions of “misery poker” that pop up in other discussions about Swarthmore, those are mine and mine alone. I am happy that others have found Swarthmore to be a congenial place. I don’t feel the need to delve further into it myself.
The OP has moved on but for the sake of others reading this thread- surely y’all understand that for a kid who is truly competitive, gunning, ready to do whatever it takes to be at the top of the heap…they’d land somewhere OTHER than a bucolic college that most people outside of Higher Ed or the Philly suburbs have never heard of, right?
Swarthmore is an odd choice for a prestige hound. Employers love it because of the educational rigor, but most people can’t spell it, don’t know where it is, and probably don’t understand why a kid with good enough stats to get into Penn State and U Penn would land at Swarthmore.
Just to counteract the “misery poker” comment. The kids I know who have gone there have had the opposite experience. It’s got more of a Reed/Wesleyan/Middlebury vibe than an “I must get an A or my life will end” like some of the more pre-professional/heading for a lucrative career type of colleges.
You’re absolutely right. The entire “highest honor” discussion is antithetical to the priorities of the kids from Swat that I’ve known (including my own). They work hard because they want to truly know and understand things, not to do better than someone else.
Obviously, many of them are aware of the need for grades and how that can position them for further educational opportunities, but they also know that they are playing at a very high level, and get some satisfaction in knowing that those who understand the school, appreciate the rigor.
The “anywhere else it would have been an A” shirt above is a joke, not a complaint. While it’s true, the students at Swat appreciate the effort of others and the challenge presented by the faculty and classmates.
It’s not for everyone…that’s agreed. If it is a fit, it can be a magical place for 4 years.
To me, Swat is a throwback school, to the days when ‘highest honors’ was something that was an end in itself, simply recognizing exceptional piece of work. When my mother was in a sister school (back in the Olden Days), you couldn’t get honors without doing original work. The ‘honors’ had no value outside of the academic community, and the people who tended to get them typically went on to become academics. As others have noted, honors at Swarthmore is a path you can choose to try for - or not.